ON CITIZEN PARTICIPATION

Last month I wrote of the many citizen volunteers who devote their time, their resources, and their energy, to our city.  Naturally, not every one has the time to devote to commissions or committees, or for that matter even service oriented group activities.  However, there is another way one can participate.

We have what I might respectfully call “gadflies” who are quick to point out things which, in their mind, are problems in the way the city is governed or managed.  You know who some of them are because they care enough to be vocal about what they believe.  Right or wrong, and it goes down both ways from time to time, they try to effect changes or corrections to things they perceive as needing such attention.  At times they may seem irksome, but let me relate a story about one such person who saved a world-renowned landmark from the developer’s wrecking ball in 1979.

The landmark was New York City’s 47 year-old Radio City Music Hall and the lady who saved it was Mary Ann Krupsak.  The local newspapers carried the story of a decaying theater which, in the developer’s words, would be better off torn down and replaced with another skyscraper.  Of course, the skyscraper would earn far more than the decaying theater.  The city administration and the state government were in agreement with the proposed development.  Who could argue about the economics as they were presented?  Our gadfly, Mary Ann, could and did.  To this day I have felt there was a great film script with this story because she was up against every entrenched interest in the city and she saved the theater within hours of the arrival of the wrecking crews who were scheduled to demolish the famed edifice.  Almost single-handedly, she argued, fought, and cornered government officials to the point where the Historic Preservation Commission was finally able to declare the theater as a historic landmark.  The outcome of her battle was both dramatic and nothing short of phenomenal.  It was a battle won by someone who cared.

As mayor, I speak every day to citizens in our own town who care enough to be vocal about things… and it is my prayer for our community that they continue to care.  It is precisely their attention and devotion that makes Jacksonville a thriving, energetic city.  We are blessed to have them.  But… how about you?  Let me encourage you to become “involved.”  We in City Hall are more than glad to listen to you.  You never know what you might accomplish.  Remember Mary Ann Krupsak.